Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Prince Fielder signs with the Detroit Tigers

Before we jump into the details of Prince Fielder's historic contract, let me put the negotiations in context. In early 2010 the Milwaukee Brewers offered Fielder a five-year, $100 million contract. Fielder's agent Scott Boras "according to sources" countered with an eight-years, $176 million contract. The counter-offer by Boras ended the negotiations between both sides because apparently Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, most likely after consulting with principal owner Mark Attansio, decided they could not make a solid counter-offer.

Fast forward to a few months ago when the Brewers were eliminated from the playoffs by the St. Louis Cardinals. In most cases a team in the Brewers' spot at least makes a courtesy offer but apparently Boras told the Brewers that it was going to cost at least $200 million to sign Fielder. If $176 million ended negotiations, $200 million made even a courtesy offer impossible. At that point everyone knew Fielder played his last game in Milwaukee, the question turned to where will Fielder actually sign?

With most of the big market clubs out of the "bidding war" for various reasons: Angels (Albert Pujols), Cubs (owner trying to be cost conscious), Dodgers (current owner already bankrupt), Mets (owners might go bankrupt), Phillies (Ryan Howard), Red Sox (Adrian Gonzalez), White Sox (Paul Konerko), and Yankees (Mark Teixeira) that left very few bidders for Prince Fielder.

For the last month it has been a flip of the coin between the Washington Nationals and the Texas Rangers. The Rangers always made more sense by the mere fact that they play in the American League so Fielder could DH part-time now and full-time sooner rather than later. Outsiders always thought the Nationals were involved just to help drive up the price for Fielder to ultimately land in Texas and gobble up some of the Ranger's new local television money set to start flowing in a few years. Much like Pujols seemingly out of nowhere signing with the Angels, Fielder signed with the Tigers instead of the Nationals or Rangers.

Once the dust settles the numbers might be slightly different but as of right now Fielder signed a nine-year, $214 million contract to play for the Detroit Tigers. To put that huge contract in perspective, there have only been three larger contracts signed in MLB history: Albert Pujols' recent deal (10-years, $240 million for 2012-21) and both of A-Rod's record breaking contracts ($252 million for 2001-10 and after opting out early he signed a $275 million from 2008 to 2017).

I have been critical of agents like Scott Boras and Drew Rosenhaus many times in this same space. Unfortunately Boras delivered the goods and probably inked a few more high-profile soon-to-be free agents in the process. The only asterisk for Boras is that if Victor Martinez didn't recently tear his ACL, there is no way that Fielder signs with the Tigers. Either way, Boras pounced and got his client the $200 million that he promised.

In the short-term the Brewers have a huge hole in the middle of their order with Fielder signing with the Tigers and Ryan Braun facing a 50-game suspension.

Only time will tell if Fielder is worth all that money. The easy answer is to say no and that Fielder will eat his way out of the league sooner rather than later, we all know that he has the means after signing a $214 million contract. I am not saying Fielder is worth $214 million but I am intrigued by him playing for his estranged father's former team. Thanks for the great memories Prince and good luck across Lake Michigan playing for the Tigers.

2 comments:

  1. FROM THIS ATTACHMENT YOU CAN SEE THAT IF PRINCE FIELDER WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE BREWERS 8 YEAR, 176 MILLION DOLLAR OFFER 2 YEARS AGO, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN 8 MILLION DOLLARS AHEAD AND NOW TRYING TO FIND A JOB AT 32 YEARS OLD. THE SAME AGE ALBERT PUJOLS RECEIVED HIS $240 MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT. NOT THAT HE IS PUJOLS, BUT, HE COULD HAVE RECEIVED ANOTHER 4-6 YEAR CONTRACT. ALTHOUGH UNDER HIS CURRENT CONTRACT HE HAS MADE $168 MILLION WITH A GUARANTEE OF 23.7 MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR FOR 4 MORE YEARS, HE NOW NEEDS TO FIND A JOB AT 36 YEARS OLD. IN THE END IS HE THAT MUCH BETTER OFF SINCE IF HE WOULD HAVE STAYED HE WOULD BE THE KING OF MILWAUKEE KNOWING HE ALREADY PROVED HIMSELF. NOW HE NEEDS TO BRING DETROIT A WORLD SERIES OR IT MAY HAVE BEEN A MONUMENTAL MISTAKE TO LEAVE. A WORLD SERIES IN MILWAUKEE WAS OBTAINABLE IN ITS OWN RIGHT.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the fielder post was sent by:

      Fred Plotsky
      Pale Hose on Facebook

      Delete